[Archive]: Visitor's Book from a French Auxiliary Hospital in World War I

France: 1914.

Price: $9,000.00

Hardcover. Quarto. Measuring 8" x 12". Red cloth over stiff paper boards. 70pp. Included are 17 hand-colored illustrations, two letters, one postcard, one photograph, and one newspaper clipping. Near fine with some rubbing and edgewear.

A visitor’s book from a World War I hospital devoted to the care of French soldiers established in a large private home known officially as Auxiliary Hospital 115. The volume opens with three pages of handwritten sentiments from nine different visitors, or groups of visitors, between 1906-1910. It begins with a passage in French that roughly translates as: “To our visitors: You who come here to watch our work / Write in this book, amiable visitors / Of your sympathy, precious testimony / A good thought dictated by your heart.” Following that are comments from 138 injured soldiers expressing deep thanks for Monsieur and Madame Berraut-Sautier, the medical staff, the Union, and the Croix Rouge (Red Cross). The patients were from a range of military units including regular infantry, Zouaves regiments, and aviation forces and include entries in Arabic by four colonial soldiers from Algeria and Morocco. There are also three pages recording the visit of Madame Poincaré, the wife of the France President Raymond Poincaré, accompanied by officials of L’Union des Femmes de France, including that group’s president, on August 12, 1915. The prestigious visitors each left a mark of their passage in the book, and there is a newspaper article and a small correspondence, a photograph, and a postcard.

Of note are the 17 wonderful original hand-colored marginalia illustrations, in at least one case, drawn by a Hospital patient, representing the work of six very talented artists. Eleven of the pieces were drawn by one “Thierry,” which depict contemporary battles as well as hospital scenes, including two nurses treating a patient. One image is a large pen and ink illustration of colonial soldiers and another watercolor shows flags and emblems.

Le Castle de L’Ermitage, located in Raincy, a suburb of Paris, was built in 1904 for Monsieur and Madame Berraut-Sautier. In 1906 the building became the headquarters of L’Union des Femmes de France. Founded in June 1881 in Paris following the split of the Association of French Ladies, L’Union des Femmes de France had as its objective, “the preparation and organization of the means of help which in any locality, can be put at the disposal of the wounded or sick of the French Army.” The Union was one of three associations that formed the French Red Cross before 1940. The building still exists and is used as a 10 bed maternity hospital.

A remarkable guest book documenting the patients at a French hospital in World War I.


Item #443327

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Item #443327 [Archive]: Visitor's Book from a French Auxiliary Hospital in World War I
[Archive]: Visitor's Book from a French Auxiliary Hospital in World War I
[Archive]: Visitor's Book from a French Auxiliary Hospital in World War I
[Archive]: Visitor's Book from a French Auxiliary Hospital in World War I
[Archive]: Visitor's Book from a French Auxiliary Hospital in World War I
[Archive]: Visitor's Book from a French Auxiliary Hospital in World War I
[Archive]: Visitor's Book from a French Auxiliary Hospital in World War I
[Archive]: Visitor's Book from a French Auxiliary Hospital in World War I
[Archive]: Visitor's Book from a French Auxiliary Hospital in World War I
[Archive]: Visitor's Book from a French Auxiliary Hospital in World War I
[Archive]: Visitor's Book from a French Auxiliary Hospital in World War I
[Archive]: Visitor's Book from a French Auxiliary Hospital in World War I
[Archive]: Visitor's Book from a French Auxiliary Hospital in World War I
[Archive]: Visitor's Book from a French Auxiliary Hospital in World War I
[Archive]: Visitor's Book from a French Auxiliary Hospital in World War I
[Archive]: Visitor's Book from a French Auxiliary Hospital in World War I
[Archive]: Visitor's Book from a French Auxiliary Hospital in World War I
[Archive]: Visitor's Book from a French Auxiliary Hospital in World War I
[Archive]: Visitor's Book from a French Auxiliary Hospital in World War I
[Archive]: Visitor's Book from a French Auxiliary Hospital in World War I
[Archive]: Visitor's Book from a French Auxiliary Hospital in World War I
[Archive]: Visitor's Book from a French Auxiliary Hospital in World War I
[Archive]: Visitor's Book from a French Auxiliary Hospital in World War I
[Archive]: Visitor's Book from a French Auxiliary Hospital in World War I
[Archive]: Visitor's Book from a French Auxiliary Hospital in World War I